The benthic foraminiferal inventory and their assemblage composition was documentedalong five sediment cores from the Peruvian margin between 3°S and 18°S atwater depths of 500 to 1250 m, covering the lower boundary of today’s Oxygen MinimumZone (OMZ). Emphasis was given to certain time intervals during the last 22thousand years when different climatic and oceanographic conditions prevailed thantoday. In total three agglutinated and 186 calcareous species were recognised. Bolivinacostata, Bolivinita minuta, Cassidulina delicata and Epistominella exigua were mostabundant. The foraminiferal distributions revealed a marked change in assemblagecomposition particularly at the deeper cores during and after the deglaciation. Thediversity declined and Bolivina species became dominant. These changes took placegradually over several millennia, and high-frequency fluctuations were not recorded.This pattern provides evidence for rather stable ecological conditions and sluggishchanges in bottom water circulation during the last deglaciation.
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